;frNE> JiOW TO USE IT 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/^oral /Muscle. 



Moral Muscle. 



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31 Jrati^riij e&at awty J nmtj gg*it« 



FREDERICK A; ATKINS, 

Editor cf '•'•The Toting Man;' 1 ' 1 and Hon. Secretary oj the National 
A lit 1- Gambit ng League. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. THAIN DAVIDSON. D.D. 



Thou shalt need all the strength that God can give 
Simply to live, mv friend, simply to live.' 1 

' -F. W. II. Myers. 

OCT 181890 

CHICAGO: NEW YORK: ^ — 

148 & 150 Madison Street. I 12 Bible House, Astor Place. 

tynbli&lxev of ©tmngettca* gitev&txxve. 



\ 



si 






Entered according to act of Congress in the 3'ear 1890, 

Bj' FLEMING H. REYELL, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Truly the young men of our day are 
well looked after. Within the last twenty 
years the Press has issued quite a library 
of books written specially for this class, 
and dealing with all the difficulties and 
dangers that attend the outset of life. 
Periodical literature has also given a 
prominent place to their interests ; the 
pulpit is alive to their claims as it never 
was before ; and in nearly all our large 
towns the significant letters, " Y.M.C.A.," 
meeting the eye on the public thorough- 
fares, tell that the Young Men's Christian 
Association, with its manifold and whole- 
some influences, is extending its ramifica- 
tions throughout the land. 

Of the younger men who of late years 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

have vigorously exerted themselves in 
this direction, probably no one has been 
more conspicuously active and successful 
than the writer of the following pages ; 
and in the spirited journal which he edits 
( The Young Man) he gives abundant 
evidence of his exceptional adaptation for 
the work. On every page of this little 
book, whose title appears to me to be 
equally accurate and felicitous, there is 
stamped the conviction that our glorious 
Christianity has been given us, not merelv 
"to save souls" (an expression open to 
criticism), but to save Man — his " whole 
spirit and soul and bodv ? * — in every part 
of that complex being which Christ came 
to redeem. Our author has a wholesome 
dread of the spurious pietism that tends 
only to emasculate ; he has no faith in 
a sickly and molluscous religiousness, 
but believes that the grace of God en- 
nobles humanity as nothing else can 
do ; that 



INTRODUCTION. vii 

"The Christian is the highest style of man," 

and that, after all, the secret of true man- 
liness is true godliness. 

With rare skill he has condensed within 
comparatively few pages an amount of 
wise and brotherly counsel that might 
have filled a large volume ; and with a 
firm but delicate hand has touched upon 
the vices that are working sad havoc 
amongst the youth of our land. The 
style is pointed and attractive : he who 
reads the first page will go on till he 
reads the last. Would that this valuable 
brochure w r ere put into the hand of 
every young man in the country! Sure 
I am that under God it could not fail 
to promote the cause of a pure and 
Christian manliness, and to hasten the 
day 

"When crime shall cease, and ancient fraud 
shall fail, 
Returning justice lift aloft her scale ; 



viii IXTRODUCTIOX. 

Peace o'er the land her olive branch extend, 
And white-robed innocence from Heaven 
descend." 

T. THAIN DAVIDSON. 



ii St. Mary's Road, 
Canonbuky, London, N., 

M.v.. U 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

I. A FIERCE FIGHT . . . .II 

II. PERSEVERANCE WINS ! . . .20 

III. PURITY IS POWER . . . .28 

IV. THE REDEMPTION OF THE EVENING 40 
V. HELPERS IN THE FIGHT . . .49 

VI. THINGS THAT HINDER . . -59 

VII. VICTORY' 71 



/^ORAL /^USCLE: 



AND HOW TO USE IT. 



I. 

A TIERCE EIGHT. 

" Think of living! Thy life, zvert thou the j>itif idlest of 
all the sons of earth, is no idle drea?n, bat a sol- 
emn reality. It is thy own. It is all thou hast to 
front eternity -with. Work then, even as He has 
done, and does, like a star, unhasting yet un- 
resting." 1 — Carlyle. 

Life is a battle. We have all discovered 
that. However sheltered our position and 
serene our career, we have had to en- 
counter occasional skirmishes, and most 
of us know the bitterness of defeat. Life 
is not a thing to be played with, to be 
frittered away in dreams, to be wasted in 
frivolity. It is a stern fight, in which the 
warrior must have ceaseless energy, keen 



12 MORAL MUSCLE. 

foresight, and strong faith, if he is to win 
success and make an honourable record. 
The firing will not be done with toy pis- 
tols — we are not about to parade our su- 
perficial cleverness in a sham fight ; we 
shall have to endure wounds and blows, 
sickening disappointments, and soul- 
haunting temptations. 

Are we ready for the fray? Some are 
not. The puny mannikin, who possesses 
no higher ambition than to rub shoulders 
with a "lion comique," and whose mental 
calibre never rises superior to the pur- 
poseless chatter of barmaids and turf tip- 
sters, or a discussion as to the exact 
length of a ballet girl's skirt, he will not 
prove a victor in life's battle. The man 
who lounges the hours away, who drinks 
deeply of the fiery alcoholic cup, who 
keeps late hours, and continually breathes 
the vitiated atmosphere of nameless dens 
of pernicious vice, will come to his work 
with weakened intellect and enfeebled 



A FIERCE FIGHT. 13 

body, and be easily beaten by studious 
and temperate competitors. Nor is there 
any room for the brainless and over- 
dressed doll, the 

"man who would 
Be a woman if he could, 
But as he can't, does all he can 
To show the world he's not a man." 

The doctrine of the survival of the fittest 
may seem hard and cruel, but it is un- 
doubtedly in force, and we must make the 
best of the situation. Let young men 
gird up their loins; let them devote their 
leisure to intellectual culture, healthy ex- 
ercise, and rational recreation — then they 
need not fear. There may be a hard 
struggle, but in all the vicissitudes of life 
we have a strong and sympathetic Friend 
who knows the difficulties of young man- 
hood. To live as the loyal disciple of 
Jesus Christ, is to have an irresistible 
power and an unfailing happiness that 
even the devil cannot destroy. Life is 



14 MORAL MUSCLE. 

a battle, but it can be fought victoriously 
by the young man who has the clean 
hands, the pure heart, and the chivalrous 
courage which belong to a soldier of the 
great King. 

But how easy it is to go astray! Here 
is a youth who has left the refreshing joys 
of quiet home life for the big, mysterious, 
unknown city; what part will he play in 
the tragedy of life — the stout-hearted 
warrior or the backboneless weakling, the 
earnest Christian or the cowardly self- 
pleaser? Will he choose fast life, and 
therefore swift death, or will he build up 
a noble and useful career? Let us fol- 
low his life for a month. Open-eyed 
wonder soon changes to "weariness of 
heart. The first glow of excitement wears 
off, and the everlasting routine of office 
work becomes unbearably monotonous. 
The awful sense of solitude is hard to 
bear. He feels that if he could but meet 
one of the home dogs he would gladly 



A FIERCE FIGHT. 15 

shake its paw and welcome it as an old 
friend. Oh, the bitterness of being alone 
in a crowd! No smile, no hand-shake, no 
genial word of welcome, nothing but a 
maddening sense of isolation. One night, 
as he saunters down the street, a hand is 
laid on his arm, and a cheerful voice ex- 
claims, "Where are you off to, old chap?" 
Turning round, he meets the smiling face 
of a counting-house companion. "Ah," he 
continues, "got a fit of the blues? — poor 
old boy, I know what it is. Come down 
to the ' Frivolity' for an hour, and kill dull 
care by a smoke, a sip, and a song." The 
young man is startled, but pleased. He 
has been in the city a month, and seen 
none of the gay sights — why shouldn't 
he go? Here is a charming companion 
ready to show him round. Why go on 
moping any longer, in the face of such an 
opportunity ? So in they go through the 
swinging doors, and all the devils in hell 
must laugh as the two brave, honest 



1 6 MORAL MUSCLE. 

lads step into the gilded trap. How the 
poor fellow hates himself next morning! 
"Why didn't I say 'No!' at once — how 
could I go into such a palace of unwhole- 
some pleasure? But then life was so dull, 
and irritating, and lonely." Yes, he is 
beginning to discover, what we all have 
to find out sooner or later, that life is not 
a playground, but a battlefield. 

Let no man, therefore, attempt to guide 
his own life without the inspiration of 
Christianity. Good resolutions will not 
stand the brunt of city temptations, and 
philosophv is no match for passion. The 
environments of life make it easy to do 
wrong and difficult to do right. When 
some men discover that, their courage 
fails; they despair, and then they sink. 
That is the result of leaving God out of 
the reckoning. Our supreme comfort is 
that God is ever and always the sure 
defence of every young man whose prin- 
ciples are manly and whose fidelity is 



A FIERCE FIGHT. 17 

staunch. He can turn our weakness into 
strength, and enable us to thunder an un- 
yielding "No!" to the world with its 
godless glitter, the flesh with its fascinat- 
ing allurements, and the devil with his 
seductive lie. 

But on our part there must be no selfish 
reservation, no cowardly compromise. I 
have seen a ship in the bay, swinging with 
the tide, and seeming as if it must follow 
it out to sea; and yet it cannot, for down 
below the dancing waves it is securely 
anchored. So it is with many a young 
man to-day. He looks towards Christ, 
and longs to live the high and noble life 
of purity and love and self-sacrifice. But 
his efforts are unavailing, for he is an- 
chored to a secret sin. Let him not 
despair, however. While there is the 
faintest longing for the path of right- 
eousness there is hope. To realise our 
incapability and poverty of resource is a 
good thing. "The greatest of faults is to 



1 8 MORAL MUSCLE. 

be conscious of none." All the angels of 
heaven watch the desperate encounter of 
the men who falter and blunder and fall, 
and yet rise again and struggle upwards 
towards the light. Christ welcomes with 
infinite tenderness the bewildered prodi- 
gal, who, sick of the swine, penitently 
returns to the Father's house. He never 
gives up any man; He offers us all 
another chance to begin anew, and by 
His omnipotent strength to overcome 
He provides not only forgiveness for the 
past, but strength for the present and 
hope for the future. He lives — He 
loves — He reigns. Then all will yet be 
well! 

"Poor human nature," says Carlyle; 
"is not a man's walking, in truth, always 
a succession of falls ? Man can do no 
other. In this wild element of a life he 
has to struggle onwards; now fallen, 
deep-abased; and ever with tears, re- 
pentance, with bleeding heart, he has 



A FIERCE FIGHT. 19 

to rise again, struggle again, still on- 
wards. That his struggle be a faithful, 
unconquerable one — that is the question 
of Questions." 



II. 

PERSEVERANCE WINS! 

"/ have been watching the careers of young men by the 
thousand i?i this busy city of Neiv York for over 
thirty years, and I find that the chief difference 
between the successful and the failures lies in single 
elements of staying power. Permanent success is 
oftener won by holding on than by sudden dash, 
however brilliant. The easily discouraged*, who 
are pushed back by a straw, are all the time drop- 
ping to the rear — to perish or to be carried along 
on the stretcher of charity. They who understand 
and practise Abraham Lincoln's homely maxim of 
1 pegging away J have achieved the solidest success^ 
—Dr. T. L. Cuyler. 

One great secret of success in life is 
dogged, resolute "stick- at- itiveness." 
Dash and audacity and superficial clev- 
erness may create a great stir for a 
time, but they achieve no lasting suc- 
cess. In a recent chat with an inter- 
viewer, Mr. Edison, quite unconsciously, 



PERSEVERANCE WINS! 



preached a most powerful sermon on per- 
severance. He described his repeated 
efforts to make the phonograph repro- 
duce the aspirated sound, and added, 
"From eighteen to twenty hours a day 
for the last seven months I have worked 
on this single word 'specia.' I said into 
the phonograph 'specia, specia, specia,' 
but the instrument responded 'pecia, 
pecia, pecia.' It was enough to drive 
one mad! But I held firm, and I have 
succeeded." That is just the kind of 
man who always does succeed. This 
simple confession of an almost heroic 
effort ought to stir some of us to face the 
battle of life with a calm, indomitable de- 
termination to fight and conquer. 

"He can toil terribly;" that is what an 
opponent said of Sir Walter Raleigh. It 
is true of all great men. They have 
simply gained their positions by thorough- 
ness and diligence. Sir Isaac Newton 
said that the only point in which he was 



22 MORAL MUSCLE. 

superior to others was this — that he had 
a power of concentrating his attention. 
The great scholar Erasmus could not 
afford, when a boy, to buy a torch, so he 
read by moonlight. John Milton, when 
quite a youth, had mastered Latin, Greek, 
Hebrew, Syriac, Italian, and French. 
When studying at St. Paul's School his 
ardour for knowledge was so great that 
he rarely went to bed before twelve 
o'clock. In the same way all great men 
have achieved success by unswerving 
diligence. The grand old German Em- 
peror, William I., was not by any means 
a genius — but the secret of his power lay 
in tireless perseverance. Although he 
climbed to the giddiest heights of glory, 
he remained to the last a simple, faithful, 
hard-working man. A friend says of 
him: "When I passed the Palace at Ber- 
lin night after night, however late, I 
always saw that grand Imperial figure 
standing up beside the green lamp, and I 



PERSEVERANCE WINS! 23 

used to say to myself, 'That is how the 
Imperial Crown of Germany was won.' " 
Three thousand years ago Solomon said, 
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might." And he also proph- 
esied: "Seest thou a man diligent in his 
business, he shall stand before kings; he 
shall not stand before mean men." 

Genius unexerted is no more genius, 
says Emerson, than a bushel of acorns is 
a forest of oaks. There may be epics in 
men's brains, just as there are oaks in 
acorns; but the tree and book must come 
out before we can measure them. How 
men would fain go to bed dunces and 
wake up Solomons! But it cannot be — 
you will reap only what you sow. "Those 
who sow dunce seed, vice seed, laziness 
seed, usually get a crop. A man of mere 
capacity undeveloped is only an organ- 
ized day-dream with a skin on it." 

How is it that so many young men re- 
main in the same lowly position, year 



24 MORAL MUSCLE. 

after year, waiting for promotion that 
never comes, and enduring the weary 
round of drudgery until the very heart 
grows sick? Frequently it is because 
they put no spirit into their work. They 
do just what they are obliged by their 
contract to do, and no more. They have 
no faith, no pluck, no push — they never 
surprise their employer with new plans 
or fresh ideas — and so they make no pro- 
gress. There is plenty of room at the 
top — but they never try to climb! It is 
very sad. The man who is to succeed in 
these days must put his heart into his 
work, and not grumble if he is kept ten 
minutes beyond office hours. 

The crowning necessity, in the case of 
many men, is promptitude. We all know 
the amiable, easy-going fellows who in- 
tend to surprise the world by some 
great achievement — to-morrow I Such 
men will never succeed. Amid the clash 
and competition of this age, we must act 



PERSEVERANCE WINS! 25 

with smartness and decision. It is no 
use waiting for something to turn up. 
"Things don't turn up in this world," said 
Garfield, "unless somebody turns them 
up." A pound of pluck is worth a ton of 
luck. Success comes not to the man who 
idly waits, but to the faithful toiler whose 
work is characterised by sleepless vigi- 
lance and cheerful alacrity. 

Never give in ! Never be discouraged 
by early failures. The greatest men have 
had to suffer crushing defeat at first. 
Even Jesus Christ said, in tones of deep- 
est agony, "I would .... but ye would 
not." There must be intermediate failures 
before the ultimate victory — therefore, 
let no man spoil his life by morbid re- 
grets. Have you ever noticed how that 
little word until comes to the front in the 
three parables in the 15th chapter of 
Luke? The man who loses his sheep 
seeks for it until he finds it. The woman 
who has lost a piece of silver searches 



26 MORAL MUSCLE. 

diligently until she recovers it. And then 
the great-hearted old father, whose son 
went off to see life, and has come so 
sadly to grief — he never gives up the 
prodigal, but watches patiently and 
eagerlv until he returns. That is the 
spirit we need to-day. We pick up a 
useful book, glance at the opening chap- 
ters, but a dry page frightens us, and we 
do not persevere until the end is reached. 
We intend to conquer some evil habit, 
but rinding that it has become rooted 
into our very life, we give up the struggle 
instead of righting until we overcome. 
We take up some Christian work, or 
begin some new study, but as soon as 
tiny obstacles and trifling discourage- 
ments come in our wav, we fume and 
fret and fidget, and the work is left un- 
finished. The man who wins the battle 
to-day is not always overwhelmingly 
brilliant, but he must be persevering. 
determined, and painstaking. Whatever 



PERSEVERANCE WINS! 27 

his task may be, he must stick at it until 
it is completed. 

And now is the time to begin. Think 
of what Holman Hunt, 'the great artist, 
said on one occasion when he was con- 
gratulated by a friend on his selection to 
paint the historical frescoes in the House 
of Commons. "Yes," he said, with sad- 
ness, "but I began with my hair grey." 
Brother, don't wait till your hair is grey. 
Your strength and opportunities are 
greater now than they can be in the 
future; begin now, and work, "unhast- 
ing, yet unresting." 



• III. 

PURITY IS POWER. 

"All -wickedness is zveakness." 

— Milton. 

"My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart 
is pureT — Tennyson. 

Purity is power. Vice and vigour are 
as far apart as good and evil. Nothing 
enfeebles a man like sin; therefore, as 
strength is the crowning necessity in the 
campaign before us, we must be pure, 

"Keep thyself pure," was Paul's counsel 
to Timothy — that is, preserve untainted 
the purity which is the inheritance of 
every young man who starts in life. The 
deadliest error that can mislead men is 
that "vice is a necessity." When the 
veteran apostle said, "Keep thyself pure," 
he knew that it was perfectly possible for 

2§ 



PURITY IS POWER. 29 

his young brother to maintain his integ- 
rity and keep his purity uncorrupted. 
Oh, brothers, let us clear our minds of 
cant. It is not the vigour and fulness of 
young life that make it necessary to sin. 
It is the tampering with temptation, the 
indulgence of degrading thoughts, the 
indecent story, and the scrofulous novel. 
If a man deliberately and wilfully gives 
himself up to the fatal spell of passion, 
and then complains that vice is a ne- 
cessity, he is a hypocrite, and stands 
self-condemned. Purity is not impossible. 
Thousands of young men could testify 
that the conquest of sensual temptations 
is comparatively easy, when the body is 
kept in health by wholesome exercise 
and the mind fully occupied by lofty 
thoughts. Constant occupation is one of 
the surest methods of preserving purity. 
Be careful and temperate in diet, take 
regular exercise and frequent cold baths, 
shun the company of "lewd fellows of 



30 MORAL MUSCLE. 

the baser sort/' and above all, if you want 
to shake off the traitor of passion for the 
angel of Purity, you must pray. "If ever 
vou are tempted," says Kingsley, u by 
passion and vanity, to form liaisons, 
snares and nets, and labyrinths of blind 
ditches, to keep you down through life, 
stumbling and grovelling, hating yourself 
and hating the chain to which you cling — 
in that hour pray — pray as if the devil had 
you by the throat — to Almighty God 
to help you out of that cursed slough! 
There is nothing else for it! — pray, I 
tell you ! " 

Some men will sneer at all this; they 
will indulge in their ghastly giggle, and 
then they will say, "But, my dear chap, 
you know a fellow must sow his wild 
oats." Well, then, he will have to reap 
a wild harvest. That is the natural law, 
the inevitable sequence, and there is no 
escape from it. I wish all young men 
could read a letter I have now before me. 



PURITY IS PO WER. 3 1 

It is written by a youth who has strayed 
from the path of purity, and now he is 
suffering the very torture of hell. With 
a broken spirit, a despairing heart, and a 
weakened body, he asks, "Is there any 
hope for me?" Fleeced and frightened 
by the scoundrelism of quack doctors, he 
has been driven to the very verge of 
madness and suicide. This is the bit- 
ter harvest of suffering and degradation 
which follows the "sowing of wild oats" — 
this is the sure and swift retribution which 
curses the man who has fallen into the sin 
of unchastity. 

Thousands of men would cut off their 
right hand to be free from the results of 
impurity. The memory of their deadly sin 
is ever before them; ghostly dreams dis- 
turb their rest, fear haunts them every 
hour. For them "the furies have taken 
their seats upon the midnight pillow." 
Hope begins to dwindle, love becomes 
dim, even God seems far away, and the 



32 MORAL MUSCLE. 

poor victims of the syren of sin begin 
to realise the burning prison of a corrupt 
life. 

They cry with David, "My sins have 
taken such hold upon me that I am not 
able to look up; my heart fa'leth me." 
They might say with Hartley Coleridge — 
in those sad verses written in his Bible on 
his twenty-fifth birthday — 

"When I received this volume small 

My years were barely seventeen, 

When it was hoped I should be all 

Which once, alas ! I might have been. 

And now my years are twenty-five, 
And every mother hopes her lamb, 

And every happy child alive, 
May never be what now I am." 

Some even go beyond this bitter re- 
pentance, and sink into hopeless and 
cynical despair, which is far worse. Like 
Lord Byron, they could write on their 
thirty-third birthday — 



PURITY IS POWER. 33 

"Through life's dull road, so dim and dirty, 
I have dragged to three-and -thirty ; 
What have these years left to me ? 
Nothing, except thirty-three." 

If you would be saved from such a re- 
morseful retrospection, be not deceived ; 
" God is not mocked ; whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." Brothers, 
I invite you to look the facts in the face ; 
will you make shipwreck of your life, will 
you destroy your manliness, will you sac- 
rifice your soul, all for a shadow — an inane 
and fleeting pleasure — an evanescent and 
unsatisfying indulgence? Have done with 
the riotous living, the hollow amusement; 
be serious, sober, steadfast, strong, and 

"Sit, self-governed, in the fiery prime 
Of youth, obedient at the feet of law." 

Trust God, respect yourself, be strong in 
the strength of Christ, and you may yet 
tread upon the lion and the adder; the 



34 MORAL MUSCLE. 

young lion and the dragon shalt thou 
trample under foot. 

It is a solemn thought that every man, 
whatever his circumstances or character 
may be, is sure to be tempted ; not one of 
us can escape. Everything depends on 
the way in which we meet the assault. 
Do we yield a little to the honeyed prom- 
ises and the plausible suggestions of the 
tempter ? then temptation becomes sin, 
and we shall be fettered by the awful 
tyranny of habit. Do we check the 
stealthy whisper of evil, and crush the 
degrading thought of lust ? then resist- 
ance is victory, and the devil will flee from 
us. Never surrender ; fight the battle out 
inch by inch ; give no quarter to the 
enemy. Every time you vanquish him, 
you gain in moral strength, and you will 
be better able to meet the next attack. 

Young men make a sad mistake when 
they think it necessary that they should 
have a personal acquaintance with the 



PURITY IS PO WER. 3 5 

dark and seamy side of life. Many a man 
who has peered into the abyss, "just to 
see what it was like," has lost his balance 
and fallen almost hopelessly. A young 
man was talking to a pilot on one of our 
big steamers. "How long," he asked, 
"have you been a pilot on these waters?" 
The old man replied, "Twenty-five years; 
and I came up and down many times be- 
fore I was pilot." "Then," said the 
young man, "I should think you must 
know every rock and sandbank in the 
river." The old man smiled at the youth's 
simplicity, and replied, "Oh no, I don't; 
but / know where the deep water is" 
That is what we want — to know the safe 
path, and keep to it. The subtle allure- 
ments of the flesh are desperate in their 
power, and he who gives way ever so 
little is in danger of rushing down the 
steep incline Go to a lofty eminence and 
drop a stone out of your hand. By the 
law of gravitation it sinks with rapidly in- 



36 MORAL MUSCLE. 



creasing momentum. If it falls 12 feet 
the first second, it will fall 48 feet the 
next second, and 108 feet the third sec- 
ond, and 300 feet the fifth second, and if 
it falls for ten seconds, it will in the last 
second rush through 1200 feet till earth 
stops it. It is the same with sin. To 
stop half-way is almost impossible — to be 
safe you must resist the beginning of evil ; 
now is the time to break with the habit, 
to drive it out and close the door on it for 
ever. To-morrow you may be imprisoned 
in its clutches — 

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death." 

Few men seem conscious that there is 
such a thing as physical morality. "Men's 
habitual words and acts," says Herbert 
Spencer, "imply the idea that they are at 



PURITY IS PO WER. 37 

liberty to treat their bodies as they please. 
Disorders entailed by disobedience to 
Nature's dictates they regard simply as 
grievances, not as the effects of a conduct 
more or less flagitious. Though the evil 
consequences inflicted on their depend- 
ants, and on future generations, are often 
as great as those caused by crime, yet 
they do not think themselves in any de- 
gree criminal. The fact is, that all 
breaches of the laws of health are -phy- 
sical sins" 

Alas for those physical sins ! If drink 
slays its thousands, then impurity destroys 
its tens of thousands. No man with his 
eyes open can deny that" vice is increasing 
in our great towns, and is sapping the 
physical strength and moral manhood 
of the nation. There is nothing more 
unspeakably sad than to see fine fellows 
galloping through a course of infernal 
revelry, wallowing in cheap nastiness, 
enduring the agonies of a spoilt and 



38 MORAL MUSCLE. 

shattered life, and then dying like dogs, 
for— 

" The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 
Make instruments to plague us." 

Go amongst men of an apparently de- 
cent type, and you will be sickened by 
coarse slang and filthy jests ; you will hear 
them boast of the fair young lives they 
have degraded and ruined, and you will 
observe that their contemptible jokes meet 
with no manly protest, but are followed 
by ghastly grins and roars of approval. 
What can we do? How long are we to 
stand by and let the vile contagion spread 
amongst our brethren? In this, as in 
other matters, the best contribution any 
man can make towards the reformation 
of society is the reformation of himself. 
Let us see to it that we keep ourselves 
pure. Then, without any approach to 
Pharisaism, we may earnestly warn our 
brethren against the power and bondage 



PURITY IS POWER. 39 

of lust. Excellent and well-meaning fel- 
lows are constantly falling through simple 
ignorance. We must show them that the 
man who blasts a fair young life, tears the 
frail flower up by its roots and tramples 
on its blossoms, is a mean and heartless 
creature, unfit for decent society; we 
must boycott the foul-mouthed man, cut 
the debauchee, and if the seducer cannot 
be sent to prison, we at least may send 
him to Coventry. Thus we may be pro- 
moting a purer public opinion. But after 
all, the one great rTanacea for impurity, 
the one hope of our race, is the health- 
giving and uplifting influence of the Gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ. 

Sin is not a mere mistake — a momen- 
tary and accidental blunder; it is a foul, 
loathsome, soul-blurring stain which noth- 
ing but the power of Christ's cleansing 
touch can remove, and from which noth- 
ing but Christ's limitless mercy can de- 
liver. 



IV. 

THE REDEMPTION OE THE EVENING. 

" Sweet recreation barred, tvhat doth ensue 
But moody and dull melancholy, 
Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair." 

— Shakespeare. 

The redemption of the evening is a prob- 
lem which has more to do with progress 
in life than some of us imagine. Two of 
the greatest factors in the formation of a 
successful career are physical health and 
mental agility, and these are largely de- 
pendent on the way in which we spend 
our leisure hours. The worst thing you 
can do of an evening is to do nothing. 
No man goes wrong when he is at work. 
But at night — that is when the battle be- 
gins; when the young man shuts his 
books, locks his desk, puts on his hat, and 

goes out into the busy streets, free for the 
4 o 



REDEMPTION OF EVENING. 41 

evening — then the dangerous time com- 
mences. Probably he is dull and fagged 
and listless — lonely and tired and discon- 
tented. The devil dogs his footsteps. 
He is tempted at every street corner. 
That is how men go wrong — having noth- 
ing else to do, they do evil. Life is so 
monotonous, and the daily round so op- 
pressive — and thus in killing time they are 
apt to kill themselves — in seeking for 
pleasurable excitement they find a slip- 
pery path which may end in degradation 
and despair. 

The remedy is simple and obvious. We 
must fill our life so full of good that there 
shall be no room for the evil. Dulness 
can be charmed away by music, depres- 
sion can be banished by vigorous exer- 
cise, and these pleasures never harmed 
any man. "The best exercise and past- 
times," said Luther, "are music and gym- 
nastics; the former dispelling mental care 
and melancholy thought, the latter pro- 



42 MORAL MUSCLE. 

during elasticity of body and preserving 
health." The grand old reformer was 
right, and music and muscle remain to 
this day the best and safest amusements 
we can enjoy. 

It is always a great safeguard for a 
young man to have a hobby — a hobby he 
can be enthusiastic about, one that will 
exercise both body and brain. How many 
men have found in the study and practice 
of music a delightful means of redeeming 
the evening. What a power it wields! 
How it revives the best feelings and 
rouses the noblest emotions! We are not 
surprised to read that, "when the evil 
spirit was upon Saul, David took a harp 
and played; so Saul was refreshed and 
was well, and the evil spirit departed from 
him." God's sweet messenger of song 
knows well how to calm a worried brain 
and cheer a fretful spirit. 

But men who are tied to a desk or con- 
fined to a warehouse all day will want to 



REDEMPTION OF EVENING. 43 

ride a more spirited hobby. Then I 
would suggest cycling. "What! in the 
evening?" Yes, in the evening; and win- 
ter evenings, too! I know nothing more 
exhilarating than a ten miles' spin on a 
frosty moonlight night — when the air is 
crisp and the roads are hard, and the sil- 
ver lamp of night reveals the broad ex- 
panse of country to our admiring view. 
On, on we pedal, swiftly and merrily, and 
our hearts are buoyant, our appetites keen, 
and our enjoyment simply boundless. 

But do you object to cycling on account 
of the expense of buying a machine, or 
the frequent spells of wet weather? Then 
join a good gymnasium. What happy 
healthy hours can be spent with bar and 
bell, horse and trapeze, while we gain firm 
limbs, strong muscles, and stout hearts. 
And this is not all, for a course of gym- 
nastics is no small help in developing a 
manly character. It not only fosters en- 
durance, perseverance, and pluck, but the 



44 MORAL MUSCLE. 

cheerful rivalry, the constant effort to at- 
tain a higher standard of agility and 
strength — all this tends to make a man 
chivalrous and modest and brave. 

I need not refer to cricket, or photog- 
raphy, or any of the popular hobbies in 
which so many young men find whole- 
some delight. But I must suggest that, 
for a man engaged in business, there can 
be no more fascinating pastime than a 
systematic and intelligent study of the 
best books. "A good book," said Milton, 
"is the life-blood of a master spirit;" and 
the best works of master spirits were 
never so readily accessible as they are to- 
day. The greatest books are now the 
cheapest. For a mere trifle you can have 
opened to you vast stores of the highest 
wisdom — you can be transported from a 
dull work-a-day world into gardens of 
undimmed beauty, where the flowers of 
gracious poetry never fade, and the leaves 
of noble biographies never wither. 



REDEMPTION OF EVENING. 45 

The love of good books is one of the 
strongest defences against temptation. It 
provides a man with a new and brighter 
world, into which he can retire at will and 
hold intercourse with the wise and good. 
Nothing in Dickens' works is more touch- 
ing than the picture of his own child-life 
which he gives in " David Copperfield." 
He shows us how easily he might have 
gone wrong had it not been for one great 
power and influence that cast a spell over 
him — the love of books. In his dismal 
and solitary garret he was not alone, for 
he had the cheerful companionship of his 
books, and they kept him pure in thought, 
shrewd in intellect, and right in life, even 
in the midst of a crowded city, with its 
myriad dangers and temptations. What 
books did for Charles Dickens they will 
do for us. The Apostle Paul never gave 
Timothy better advice than when he 
urged the young man to "give attendance 
to reading." 



46 MORAL MUSCLE. 

The despotism of habit is so strong that 
it is extremely important the taste for 
reading should be cultivated in youth. 
Have we not known men who have sac- 
rificed every hour to business, eschewing 
all pleasure, quenching all intellectual 
yearnings, until money-making has be- 
come the one dominant passion of their 
lives? We know the result. They be- 
come rich, retire from business, and are 
miserable. It is positively wicked to neg- 
lect the mind until it becomes dull and 
stunted and useless, at least for the study 
of any other volumes than the ledger or 
bank-book. You will be all the better 
business men if you can go to your desk 
every morning fresh and happy, because 
the evening has been devoted to a study 
which has gratified the fancy and en- 
riched the mind. The great thing is to 
have some hobby, some scientific, literary, 
or athletic occupation, outside the line of 
the daily work. 



REDEMPTION OF EVENING. 47 

There is yet another way of redeeming 
the evening, and by no means the least 
important. Nothing will contribute so 
much to real, deep, unfailing happiness, as 
one or two nights a week spent in trying 
to mitigate the suffering and enlighten the 
ignorance of our fellow men. I like to 
think of Ion Keith Falconer, the brilliant 
university man, the champion bicyclist, 
the best shorthand writer of his day, leav- 
ing the fashionable crowd of admirers, 
and going down to the Whitechapel dis- 
trict, London, to preach the Gospel to the 
poor and degraded masses 'of the East 
End. Keith Falconer had many hobbies; 
his bicycle races and his phonography 
gave him great delight, but I do not think 
they ever filled him with such genuine 
happiness as the work he did for his Lord 
amid the darkness and despair of White- 
chapel. The soul of all improvement is 
the improvement of the soul. What we 
are — that is the main thing. It is well to 



MORAL MUSCLE. 



cultivate the mind, but the first and su- 
preme need is a pure heart and a Christ- 
like character. And if by God's help we 
have known and loved the Man of Naz- 
areth, and instead of leading a barren and 
selfish career, are trying to make the 
world a little brighter and cleaner, and 
nearer heaven, then the battle of life can- 
not end in defeat. We may not have con- 
quered so triumphantly as we expected, 
but when the King scans our poor record, 
He will hide its defeats with His ail- 
abounding mercy and magnify its victories 
by His all-embracing love, 



V. 

HELPERS IN THE FIGHT. 

"As nothing can help the eye, without sight; or rouse if 
there be no life; worship and practice are of ?io 
xuorth without living religious affections. But, 
when, to use ScougaVs fine phrase, which brought 
Whitfield peace, ' the life of God is in the soul] 
helps are tendrils to lift our trailing thoughts and 
desires above the rank grozvths of the world, till 
they throw out their branches far up in the light." 
— Dr. Cunningham Geikie. 

"Benaiah went down and slew a lion in 
a pit in a snowy day" (i Chron. xi. 22). 
What an exciting incident, and with what 
telegraphic conciseness it is related! There 
is more pulsing life and throbbing realism 
in those fourteen words than in many a 
modern novel. The natural inquiry is, 
"What made Benaiah so brave ? " He is 
not a prominent Bible character. We 

know scarcely anything about him. Our 

49 



50 MORAL MUSCLE. 

information is practically confined to the 
bare, bald fact that he was one of "Da- 
vid's mighty men" And yet that is suf- 
ficient! It unfolds the secret of his war- 
rior spirit. Solitude and isolation are not 
the best nurseries for producing heroes. 
The effect of comradeship with a band of 
noble-hearted men, and of loyal devotion 
to a loved and trusted leader is magnetic 
— marvellous! 

Some men may paddle their own canoes 
through the choppy sea of life, brave its 
bleakest gales, survive its biggest storms, 
and float at last right up to heaven's gate. 
But it is not safe to attempt it. You had 
better mingle with brave, pure-souled 
men, that you may catch their dauntless 
spirit and lofty enthusiasm. 

I know nothing that requires so much 
care as " making friends." Some men of 
superficial character possess what I may 
almost call a fatal facility for becoming 
entangled in dangerous companionships. 



HELPERS IN THE FIGHT. 51 

"Example," says Burke, "is the school of 
mankind, and they will learn at no other." 
How necessary, then, that the examples 
by which you are surrounded should be 
pure and good! You must have friends, 
and you cannot help being influenced by 
them. But you can resolve that, whether 
they are rich or poor, they shall at least 
be high-minded Christian gentlemen. 

Above all, you must get into the com- 
pany of great David's greater Son, who 
will inspire you with valour, and multiply 
your strength, until to kill a lion on a 
snowy day, or, in other words, to conquer 
a temptation under exceptional difficulties, 
will become almost easy. But the enthu- 
siasm of " mighty men" is not everything. 
The influence of a pure woman is often 
much stronger. In life's conflict, few 
helpers are more potent than the trustful 
affection of a true-hearted girl unspoilt by 
the fashion and frivolity of the world. 
More men have been saved from ruin, by 



52 MORAL MUSCLE. 

homes that were bathed in the sunlight of 
love, than by the most graceful and elo- 
quent sermons. And how many men 
have conquered unpropitious circum- 
stances, overcome inherent laziness, and 
risen to lofty heights of honour and suc- 
cess, as the result of the encouragement 
and sympathy of a brave, loving wife. 
Marriage has made more men than it has 
ever marred. Prince Bismarck, in speak- 
ing of his wife, has declared, "She it is 
who has made me what I am." Burke 
said, amid all the clamour and anxiety of 
a statesman's busy life, " Every care van- 
ishes the moment I enter under my own 
roof." " I would not," said Luther, "ex- 
change my poverty with my wife for all 
the riches of Crcesus without her." Such 
quotations could be multiplied. Lord 
Beaconsfield always spoke with gratitude 
of the devotion of his wife. Sir Walter 
Scott and Daniel O'Connell ascribed all 
their success to the loving co-operation of 



HELPERS IN THE FIGHT. $3 

their life-partners. Hood, with infinite 
pathos, confesses, "I never was anything, 
dearest, till I knew you, and I have been 
a better, happier, and more prosperous 
man ever since." And even Carlyle, 
whose married life had its hours of shade 
and sadness, lamented that, when his wife 
died, " the light of his life" went out, for 
she "unweariedly forwarded him, as none 
else could, in all of worthy that he did or 
attempted." Facts all point to this defi- 
nite conclusion: that a wise marriage, 
safeguarded by prudence, ennobled by 
virtue, and crowned by love, is a marvel- 
lous helper in life's battle. It compels a 
man to rouse himself and fight with re- 
newed energy. So long as he has only 
his own needs to supply, and his own 
welfare to think of, he may be tempted to 
sink into sloth and selfishness, but the 
faithful comrade at his side will cheer him 
in times of depression, save him from de- 
spair, and very often make a hero of him. 



54 MORAL MUSCLE. 

Here, however, we need a word of 
warning. Nothing is more sad than to 
observe the unthinking haste with which 
marriages are contracted. The most im- 
portant event in a man's life is too often 
treated as the lightest joke. A pair of 
bright eyes, a seaside ramble, the intrigue 
of a match-making mamma — and the 
thing is done! She wants to vary the 
monotony of life, and excite the envy of 
her girl friends; he is easy-going and soon 
fascinated; and so a weak man with a 
small salary is mated to a vain girl who 
cannot cook a chop! Oh, the pity of it! 
For a marriage of this kind never helps a 
man through life; it will bring the hus- 
band obscurity and poverty, the wife fret 
and anxiety, and the children dependence 
and beggary. 

Some of the entries in the diary of the 
good Earl of Shaftesbury give us an in- 
teresting insight into his thoughts on mar- 
riage. On September 24, 1828, he writes: 



HELPERS IN THE FIGHT. 55 

"In solitude very often of late I somehow 
begin to feel how truly God pronounced, 
'It is not good for man to be alone.' " On 
December 3rd the following sentences 
occur, "Marriage, I have seen, corrects 
many and various errors in a man's char- 
acter. I know and feel the vices of my 
moral constitution, but I dread the chance 
of a Jezebel, a Cleopatra, or that insupport- 
able compound of folly and worldliness 
which experience displays every day, but 
history has not yet recorded. Give me 
the mother of the Gracchi, exalted by the 
Gospel ! " And again, on December 25th, 
"What a purity of delight if God would 
bestow on me the wife of my heart, and 
a place for the exercise of imagined vir- 
tues ! " It would indeed be a blessing if 
all young men would exercise a similar 
care in avoiding thoughtless and charac- 
terless dolls, and in seeking, as helpmates, 
true-hearted Christian women. 

At what age, then, should a man 



56 MORAL MUSCLE. 

marry? Carlyle thought that young men 
should be shut up in barrels until they at- 
tain the age of twenty-five, and many 
eminent men have fixed twenty-five as the 
earliest age at which a man should wed. 
The youth of nineteen or twenty, who, 
with all the recklessness of inexperience, 
persuades some gentle but weak-minded 
girl to share with him two attics and a 
paltry weekly wage, is not only to be 
pitied for his folly, but condemned for his 
wickedness. It is not, however, alto- 
gether a question of money, for even if 
his pockets were filled with gold, his head 
is not likely to be filled with wisdom, and 
he had far better wait until his principles 
are settled, his intellect broadened, and 
his will strengthened, before he embarks 
on so serious- an enterprise. I cannot 
help deploring the childish advice given 
by certain advocates of social purity. 
"Poor young man," they say in effect, 
"you are so much to be pitied — your pas- 



HELPERS IN THE FIGHT, 57 

1 

sions are so strong, your temptations are 
so great, and your will is so weak. In 
order that you may not fall into immoral 
habits, marry early." This is nonsense — 
and pernicious nonsense. Let us take the 
higher and more Christian standpoint, and 
say, Be men! Exercise the indispensable 
attribute of self-restraint. It is not a mere 
toss up between marriage and immorality. 
Resolve to be brave, and chivalrous, and 
strong. If you truly love a woman, you 
will surely scorn to drag her down to a 
miserable existence of constant poverty 
and crushing anxietv. Work and wait 
for her. Go forward, trusting in God, 
and labour on with pluck and patience 
until the day shall come when you will be 
able to lay at her feet, not a mere declar- 
ation of boyish affection— honest and pure 
as that may be — but a noble record of 
honourable work, and the golden victory 
of an assured position. 

"To fall in love" is not everything. 



58 MORAL MUSCLE. 

When a man falls, he is certainly not 
particularly his own master. Let him re- 
cover his feet, and steadily scan the situa- 
tion. " If ever one is to pray/' says Jane 
Welsh Carlyle, "if ever one is to feel 
grave and anxious, if ever one is to shrink 
from vain show and vain babble, surely it 
is just on the occasion of two human be- 
ings binding themselves to one another 
for better and for worse till death part 
them." 



VI. 

THINGS THAT HINDER. 

"Rocks whereon greatest men have of test ■wrecked.' 1 '' 

— Milton. 

If we are to fight the battle of life with 
strength and success, we must "lay aside 
every weight," not merely the sin that so 
easily besets us, but every hindrance that 
might hamper our progress and endanger 
our victory. Let us think of two or three 
things that have thrown, many a man 
down and involved him in failure and 
despair. 

First I would refer to lack of faith in 
whatever work or enterprise we have in 
hand. One of the chief necessities for 
genuine success is that we should love 
our work and thoroughly believe in it. 
Nearly all successful work in the world 
to-day is done by the men who have 

59 



6o MORAL MUSCLE. 

boundless faith in the enterprise thev 
have undertaken. The British governor 
of one of the Indian provinces, comment- 
ing on his good fortune in getting out of 
the country before the breaking out of 
the mutiny, said, "I never could have 
fought well, for I could never make up 
my mind whether the conquest of India 
was a divinely inspired act or a terrible 
mistake." Nothing saps the strength like 
loss of faith. Scepticism inevitably de- 
stroys a man's working powers. Who 
can imagine a half-hearted Stanley? The 
man who is to cross Africa must believe 
that he is doing that particular thing 
which above all others needs to be 
done — and that he is the man to do it! 
If we are to work well, we must do a 
work that we believe in. If we are to 
achieve anything high and noble and 
good, we must banish doubt and put 
our hand to the business before us with a 
resolute courage and a triumphant faith. 



THINGS THA T HINDER. 61 

Secondly, how many men are hindered 
in life by ill health! "There is no good in 
arguing with the inevitable," says Low- 
ell; "the only argument with an east 
wind is to put on your overcoat." I wish 
young men would always remember that. 
When the wind has been keen and cut- 
ting, and influenza seemed to dwell in 
every gust, I have seen men riding their 
bicycles or standing at street corners 
thinly attired and without any over- 
coat. They would feel hurt if I said 
they were mad — but that is the simple 
fact. 

Many men consider they are very bold 
and manly and plucky if they ignore 
overcoats and umbrellas, and laugh at all 
protection against wind and wet. They 
might learn wisdom if they could spend a 
winter, as I have done, in a southern sea- 
side health resort, where the doctors are 
overworked, the chemists' shops crowded, 
and every other man you meet seems to 



62 MORAL MUSCLE. 

be on the brink of the grave. It is almost 
heart-breaking to see consumptive young 
men who have had to abandon an honour- 
able and useful career and fly to the sunny 
south — in many cases, I fear, only to 
postpone death by a few months. How 
many of them might have enjoyed con- 
tinuous health and vigour but for some 
trifling carelessness. Let every young 
man who enjoys good health thank God 
for an unspeakable blessing, and take care 
to preserve it. 

Thirdly, what bright and promising 
careers have been wrecked by gamb- 
ling! The awful power and fascination 
of this vice has seldom been shown 
in such a glaring light as by the frank 
confession of Lady Sebright. She has 
told us in a public meeting that not long 
ago she was a great gambler, and loved 
to attend the races. "There was nothing 
she cared for so much as gambling, and 
over and over again she made promises 



THINGS THA T HINDER. 63 

to give it up, but broke them just as the 
drunkard breaks his promises. She would 
now rather lose her right hand than play 
cards or gamble in any way." Gambling 
becomes an irresistible passion, and the 
fetters with which it binds its victims are 
almost stronger than those that tighten 
round the drunkard. Of all habits it is, 
in the words of Kingsley, "the most in- 
trinsically savage ; morally it is unchival- 
rous and unchristian; the devil is the only 
father of it." Lord Beaconsfield called 
the turf "a vast engine of national de- 
moralization," and all who know anything 
about the racecourse and its surroundings 
are aware that it is a world of robbery 
and riot, in which faith and trust, purity 
and manliness, are absolutely unknown — 
a world — alas ! that we should have to 
say it — that is largely made up of young 
men who ought to be the backbone of the 
country. It is simply distressing to see, 
in city trains, scores of youths — the sense- 



64 MORAL MUSCLE. 

".ess tools of chance — disfigured by 
collars and loud attire, enjoying the feeble 
jokelets and filthy inuendoes of low sport- 
ing papers. Gambling is an unpardonable 
vice. It has been well pointed out that tak- 
ing alcohol is not in itself a sin until a 
tain line is passed, and the bar separating 
moderation from excess is broken down ; 
and impurity is but the misdirection or 
abuse of that which is not only legitimate 
but hallowed by God. But gambling is 
vicious, whether practiced in moderation 
or excess. It directly violates the two 
great principles which our Lord has 
taught us as the whole duty of life ; (i) 
to love the Lord our God with all our 
heart, with all our mind, with all our soul 
and with all our strength : and ( 2 ) to love 
our neighbour as ourselves. 

••Listen." says Mr. Herbert Sper. : 
••to a conversation about gambling, and 
where reprobation is expressed, note the 
grounds of the reprcbation. That it tends 



THINGS THA T HINDER. 65 

towards the ruin of the gambler; that it 
risks the welfare of family and friends ; 
that it alienates from business and leads 
into bad company — these and such as 
these are the reasons given for condemn- 
ing the practice. Rarely is there any 
recognition of the fundamental reason. 
Rarely is gambling condemned because 
it is a kind of action by which pleasure is 
obtained at the cost of pain to another. 
The normal obtainment of gratification, 
or of the money which purchases gratifi- 
cation, implies, firstly, that there has been 
put forth equivalent effort of a kind which, 
in some way, furthers the general good; 
and implies, secondly, that those from 
whom the money is received get, directly 
or indirectly, equivalent satisfaction. But 
in gambling the opposite happens. Ben- 
efit received does not imply effort put 
forth, and the happiness of the winner 
involves the misery of the loser. This 
kind of action is therefore essentiallv 



66 MORAL MUSCLE. 

anti-social, sears the sympathies, culti- 
vates a hard egoism, and so produces 
a general deterioration of character and 
conduct." 

There we have a calm, weighty, and 
logical summing up of the whole matter. 
Thank God, the passion for gambling can 
be checked and crushed, and the best 
way to do it is to fill the mind and heart 
with interests and tastes and purposes of 
a higher and nobler kind. 

A fourth defect that hinders many a 
good-hearted fellow is self-conceit. You 
have heard a man referred to as "a clever 
chap, but the worst of it is that he puts 
on side." This is a slang phrase, and as 
such I apologise for it. But it is the pop- 
ular description of a very common vice. 
I have heard of a gentleman in the north 
who was so oppressed by an overwhelm- 
ing sense of humility that he prayed, 
"Lord, give us a good conceit of our- 
selves." Assuredly there is no need of 



THINGS THA T HINDER. 67 

such a petition to-day. It would be better 
if the Lord would say to some of us, as 
He said to Zaccheus, "Come down;" for 
no one can deny that this is an age of 
bombast, conceit, and vanity. The spruce 
little counter-kicker, all collar and cuffs, 
gives himself the airs of a count; and 
there are few clerks who do not feel able 
to reconstruct the universe on an im- 
proved plan. Cheap and shallow critics 
abound on every hand, and the self- 
assertive sham, who tries to give you the 
impression that he is the confidante of 
Cabinet Ministers and the' bosom friend 
of every popular hero, is an omnipresent 
nuisance. While we seek to abandon 
self-conceit, however, it is necessary to 
beware of what Coleridge calls "the pride 
that apes humility." As a rule, no one 
is so arrogant or so ostentatious as the man 
who takes every opportunity of informing 
you that he is "a poor thing — a worm of 
the dust." I do not advocate a feeble 



68 MORAL MUSCLE. 

and flabby abasement which regards 
ignorance and melancholy as outward 
and visible signs of inward and spiritual 
grace. Our manhood is a noble thing, 
to be reverenced ; our life is a sacred 
burden, to be borne with dignity and 
devoutness, and yet with a sublime 
humility. There is such a thing as 
manly modesty, and that is what we 
have to strive after. The Cross will kill 
conceit. The man who goes there in- 
flated with pride will come away with 
but one cry — "God be merciful to me a 
sinner." 

Amongst other hindrances that cripple 
men who might otherwise be successful, 
I would mention debt. It looks manly — 
so some fools think — to throw money 
about lavishly; but debt is a dark shadow 
which has cast a gloom over many a 
bright life. It entangles the feet, destroys 
reputation, and drags a man down to 
despair. Lord Wolseley has told us that, 



THINGS THA T HINDER. 69 

on looking back on his own experience, 
he could not remember any man who 
had made it a habit to keep well within 
his income who did not become a suc- 
cessful man. 

Then, lastly, it is necessary to add one 
word about drink. Not so very long ago 
the body of a young suicide was discov- 
ered in one of our large cities. In his 
pocket was found a paper on which he 
had written, "I have done this myself. 
Don't tell anyone. It is all through 
drink." An intimation of these facts in 
the public press drew 24*6 letters from 
246 families, each of whom had a prod- 
igal son who, it was feared, might be the 
suicide. The wasted manhood in our 
cities is largely owing to the indulgence 
in strong drink. The sad part of it is 
that many a man is wrecked and dead 
almost before he has begun to live. He 
takes a few glasses, then drinks to ex- 
cess ; then comes loss of character, abject 



MORAL MUSCLE. 



misery, self-contempt, and very often a 
self-inflicted death. Oh, the pangs and 
perils of this tragic fight of ours ! Let 
us try to fence our brethren round with 
healthy influences, and lead them back 
from the husks of profaned hopes and 
forgotten loves to the brightness and 
safety of the Father's House. 



VII. 

VICTORY. 

" Let my voice be heard that asketh 
Not for fame and ?iot for glory ; 
Give for all our life's dear story, 
Give us Love and give us Peace.''' 

— Jean Ingelow. 

Who is the victor in life's battle? That is 
an important question to settle, because 
men whom we should regard as having 
failed ignominiously are respected by oth- 
ers as having succeeded brilliantly. The 
difference is this: that some people judge 
a man's success by his bank-book — others 
are wise enough to reckon it by his char- 
acter. 

Let this rule be laid down once and for 
all — that success in the battle of life is not 
to be estimated by a man's possessions; it 



72 MORAL MUSCLE. 

cannot be measured by the number of his 
acres or the weight of his money-bags. 
Goodness before gold, wisdom before 
wealth — that is the guiding motto of all 
noble lives. Never perhaps was the "nar- 
rowing lust for gold" more painfully prev- 
alent than it is to-day. The staunchest 
Protestant is in danger of becoming a mis- 
erable idolater, not of wood and stone, but 
of hard, cold gold. Many men have, of 
course, gone to extremes, and wickedly 
misquoting Solomon, they have asserted 
that " money is the root of all evil." That is 
a ridiculous blunder, for money, when cir- 
culated with sanctified wisdom and large- 
hearted love, is the root of unspeakable 
good. It is the love of money, the passion- 
ate worship of "saint-seducing gold," that 
robs men of their sensitiveness of con- 
science, deadens their spiritual life, and 
degrades them to the level of money-mak- 
ing machines. 

Those who are afflicted with an over- 



VICTORY. 73 



whelming passion for wealth should re- 
member that the gratification of their de- 
sires might prove a terrible curse. Few 
men can be trusted to be wealthy and 
good. 

Once, when George Whitfield was 
preaching, the old clerk in the desk be- 
low, in giving out the notices, said, "The 
prayers of this congregation are earnestly 
requested on behalf of a young man who 
has just fallen heir to a large fortune." 
No man needs praying for so much as 
the rich man, for he is always in the grav- 
est possible danger. 

How little money can do after all ! 
Those who have read Mr. Rider Hag- 
gard's fascinating novel, " King Solomon's 
Mines," are not likely to forget one excit- 
ing chapter, in which the weary travel- 
lers, who have braved starvation, sav- 
agery, and countless dangers, at last reach 
the renowned* cave in which is hidden an 
innumerable collection of diamonds, every 



74 MORAL MUSCLE. 

one of which is worth a fortune. They 
are within an inch of becoming million- 
aires, their mission is all but accomplished, 
when the door, which can only be opened 
on the outside by a secret spring, quietly 
closes, and they are caught like mice in a 
trap! Surrounded by countless gems of 
wondrous worth, they are nevertheless 
buried in a horrible and hopeless tomb. 
This is no mere fiction. It is stern, 
sober truth. Many a man would gladly 
give up all his wealth for a good digestion, 
sturdy health, pure love of friends, and a 
capacity for enjoying life. 

The possession of money has kept more 
men away from Jesus Christ than the 
want of it. More than one young man 
has gone away from the Master very sor- 
rowful, for "he was very rich." Money 
has never made a man good yet. It saves 
from carking care, and adds a few com- 
forts to life, but it never ennobles charac- 
ter. The grandest life ever lived on earth 



VICTORY. 75 



was that of a certain Man who had not 
where to lay His head. It has been well 
said that "the loveliest blossoms do not 
grow on plants that plunge their greedy 
roots into the fattest soil; a little light 
earth in the crack of a hard rock will do. 
We need enough for the physical being to 
root itself in — we need no more." None 
of this world's gifts can make a man rich 
or restful. The true treasures are kept in 
the soul. Are we selfish, mean, uncharit- 
able, and faithless ? then the possession of 
the whole world could not make us rich. 
Are we tender, loving, self-denying, and 
honest — trying to fashion our frail life 
after that of the model Man of Nazareth? 
then, though our pockets are often empty, 
we have an inheritance which is as over- 
whelmingly precious as it is eternally in- 
corruptible. 

We see, then, that the man who is suc- 
cessful and victorious in life's conflict is 
not necessarily the rich man. The tender 



76 MORAL MUSCLE. 

story of Jesus Christ and the glowing his- 
tory of the Apostle Paul prove this con- 
clusively. Paul was never so great as 
when he occupied a prison cell; and Jesus 
Christ reached the height of His success 
when, smitten, spat upon, tormented, and 
murdered, He cried in agony — and yet 
with triumphant satisfaction — " It is fin- 
ished!" The true victory, the genuine 
success, consists in a Christ-like charac- 
ter. It consists in the God-given power 
to do right when we know it; to trample 
under foot selfishness and pride and im- 
purity, at the bidding of that inner voice 
which speaks of righteousness and duty; 
to resist temptation, to cast off cowardice 
and indolence, and to take our part in the 
work of "redressing human wrongs." 

A missionary, when preaching one day 
in the heart of Africa, was stopped in the 
middle of his address by an eager, smiling 
young fellow, who, running up, shouted, 
"When you go home, write it down in 



VICTORY. 77 



your book that I am Jesus Christ's man 
now." Well might the dusky convert de- 
sire to have such a glorious fact "written 
down," for all the world's fame sinks into 
ridiculous insignificance beside the honour 
of being "Jesus Christ's man." That and 
that alone is the crowning victory of life. 
To render to Christ, not the mechanical 
respect of cold and superficial allegiance, 
but the warm love of a purified heart and 
the loyal service of an inspired life — that 
is the highest good. 

To be a man is a grand thing! "Before 
I go any further," says Frank Osbaldi- 
stone, in "Rob Roy," "I must know who 
you are." "I am a man," is the answer, 
"and my purpose is friendly." "A man," 
he replied; "that is a brief description." "It 
will serve," answered Rob Roy, "for one 
who has no other to give. He that is with- 
out name, without friends, without coin, 
without country, is still at least a man." 
But to be "Jesus Chrisfs man" — that is 



78 MORAL MUSCLE. 

a far nobler name. He may be poor, de- 
spised and friendless. He may live in the 
smoky city, amidst difficulty and tempta- 
tion, but he shall have in his heart a cease- 
less flow of unfailing happiness. For "Je- 
sus Christ's man" is a cheerful, genial 
fellow, with large sympathies, and a bright, 
manly spirit. Some very excellent and re- 
ligious people seem to suppose that when 
a man accepts Christ and His gospel, he 
must become a miserable weakling, with- 
out backbone or bravery, a nerveless 
creature, deaf to all music, blind to all art, 
and ignorant of all pleasure. There is no 
more dangerous sophism than to suppose 
that a sallow-visaged dyspeptic with a 
sepulchral voice, or a cold-blooded ascetic 
with a morbid solemnity of manner, is a 
better Christian than a hopeful, buoyant, 
muscular young man. 

"The luxury of false religion is to be 
unhappy," said Sydney Smith, but the true 
follower of the Man of Nazareth will show 



VICTORY, 79 



the world that the glory of real Christian- 
ity is that it fills men with a delightful 
rapture which money cannot purchase 
and trial cannot destroy; it takes nothing 
from a man but what is irredeemably bad 
and baleful; it gives him a life of joy and 
happiness and peace here on earth, and 
at last "pleasure at God's right hand for 
evermore." 

"What a farce if it does not deal with 
men's lives!" exclaimed Gordon, in refer- 
ence to the Khartoum expedition, and we 
may say the same of much of the timid, 
lifeless religiousness that exists to-day. 
But "Jesus Christ's man" does not con- 
fine his Christianity to the four walls of a 
church. It has a forceful influence on his 
daily life. His great desire and aim is to 
purge the city of its moral leprosy, pro- 
vide for its spiritual destitution, and cure 
its enfeebled physique. He is ready, with 
chivalrous daring, to battle with vice and 
immorality, to tell out the story of Christ's 



8o MORAL MUSCLE. 

Evangel, and to minister to the needs of 
the suffering poor. All this because he is 
'"Jesus Christ's man," and is therefore 
bound to consecrate time and ease and 
pleasure to the cause of freedom and pro- 
gress, brotherhood and peace. Oh for 

more men of this sort! The world is 

■ 

bursting with sin and sorrow, and needs 
thousands of warm hearts and willing 
hands to save it from wreck and ruin. 
Why fritter away your time in self-indul- 
gence? Why ignore the love of God and 
spoil vour own lives? 

<; Try to make others better, 
Try to make others glad, 
The world has so much of sorrow, 
So much that is hard and bad. 

Love yourself last, my brother. 

Be gentle, and kind, and true — 
True to yourself and others. 

As God is true to you."' 

The victor}-, then, is to be won by the 
man who, in the strength of the risen 



VICTORY. 8 1 



Lord, is able to conquer self and lay down 
his life for the brethren. But to conquer 
self, that is the hard thing. Philosophy 
can culture the mind and uplift the emo- 
tions, but it cannot cure a sinful heart. 
Thrift and perseverance and business 
acuteness, these will improve a man's en- 
vironment, but they are powerless to 
change his life. The only way is to grasp 
the hand of the Christ, who alone can 
keep us straight and strong. 

"Is Satan bigger than me?" said a little 
girl. "Yes," replied her father. "Is he 
bigger than you?" "Ah, yes," was the 
sad reply. "And is Satan bigger than 
Jesus Christ?" "No." "Well, then," said 
the little, one, brightening up, "/ don't 
care a rap for him!" Let big men, for 
once, learn a useful lesson from a little 
girl. 

Directly we realize that the strong and 
loving Christ sympathises with us in our 
struggle, and will stand by us till the bat- 



82 MORAL MUSCLE. 

tie is won, we gain new hope; the out- 
look is brightened, and we know that 
victory is not far off. For if He is for us, 
who shall be against us? So let the battle 
begin, and we will take our places under 
the victorious banner of Jesus Christ, and 
toil and pray and fight until every foe is 
vanquished. Then at the last we may re- 
ceive an epitaph like that once placed 
over a soldier's grave — 

"Here lies a soldier, whom all must applaud; 
Who fought many battles at home and abroad. 
But the hottest engagement he ever was in, 
Was the conquest of self in the battle of sin." 

To do that we must not only be true 
men; we must accept Jesus Christ as the 
corner-stone of our faith, the centre of 
our love, and the inspiration of our life. 

THE END. 



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work. 

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whole Bible is Jamieson, Fausset & Brown." 

CRU DEN'S UNABRIDGED CONCORDANCE TO THE 
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cloth (net), $1.00; half roan, sprinkled edges (net), 2.00; half roan, 
full gilt edges (net), $2.50. 

SMITH'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, comprising its Antiquities, Biog- 
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trations. Edited and condensed from his great work by William 
Smith, LL. D. 776 pages, 8vo, many illustrations, cloth, $1.50. 

THE BIBLE TEXT CYCLOPEDIA. A complete classification of 
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Rev. James Inglis. Large 8vo, 524 pages, cloth, $1.75. 
The plan is much the same as the " Bible Text Book" with the valuable additional 

help in that the texts referred to are quoted in full. Thus the student is saved the time and 

labor of turning to numerous passages, which, when found, may not be pertinent to the 

subject he has in hand. 

THE TREASURY OF SCRIPTURE KNOWLEDGE; consist- 
ing of 500,000 scripture references and parallel passages, with numer- 
ous notes. 8vo, 778 pages, cloth, $2.00. 

A single examination of this remarkable compilation of references will convince the 
reader of the fact that " the Bible is its own best interpreter." 

THE WORKS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, translated by William 
Whiston, A. M., with Life, Portrait, Notes and Index. A new cheap 
edition in clear type. Large Svo, 684 pages, cloth, $2.00. 

100.000 SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS. By Rt. Rev. Samuel 
Fallows, A. M., D. D. 512 pages, cloth, $1.00. 

A complete Dictionary of synonyms and words of opposite meanings, with an appen- 
dix of Briticisms, Americanisms, Colloquialisms, Homonims, Homophonous words, Foreigr 
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" This is one of the best books of its kind we have seen, and probably there is nothing 
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Popular Missionary Biographies. 

l2mo, 160 pages. Fully illustrated; cloth extra, 75 cents each. 



Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, 
writes: 

" Crowded with facts 
that both interest and in- 
spire, we can conceive of 
no better plan to spread 
the Missionary spirit than 
the multiplying of such 
biographies; and we 
would specially commend 
this series to those who 
have the management of 
libraries and selection of 
prizes in our Sunday 
Schools." 




From The Missionary 
Herald : 

"We commended this 
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and a further examina- 
tion leads us to renew our 
commendation, and to 
urge the placing of this 
series of missionary books 
in ail our Sabbath-school 
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These books are hand- 
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SAMUEL CROWTHER, the Slave Boy who became Bishop of 

the Niger. By Jesse Page, author of " Bishop Patterson." 
THOMAS J. COMBER, Missionary Pioneer to the Congo. By 

Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society. 
BISHOP PATTESON, the Martyr of Melanesia. By Jesse Page. 
GRIFFITH JOHN, Founder of the Hankow Mission, C?entraV 

China. By Wm. Robson, of the London Missionary Society. 
ROBERT MORRISON, the Pioneer of Chinese Missions. By 

Wm. J. Townsend, Sec. Methodist New Connexion Missionary Soc'y. 
ROBERT MOFFAT, the Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By David 

J. Deane, author of " Martin Luther, the Reformer," etc. 
WILLIAM CAREY, the Shoemaker Vho became a Missionary. 

By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society. 
JAMES CHALMERS, Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga 

and New Guinea. Bv Wm. Robson, of the London Missionary Soc'y. 
MISSIONARY LADIES IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Mrs. E. R. 

Pilman, author of " Heroines of the Mission Fields," etc. 
JAMES CALVERT ; or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. 
JOHN WILLIAMS, the Martyr of Erromanga. By Rev. James 

J. Ellis. 

UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE. 

JOHN BRIGHT, the Man of the People. By Jesse Page, author of 

" Bishop Patteson," " Samuel Crowther," etc. 
HENRY M. STANLEY, the African Explorer. By Arthur Monte- 

fiore, F.R.G.S. Brought down to 1889. 
DAVID LIVINGSTON, his Labors and his Legacy. 



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REPORT OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE on the 

Protestant Missions of the World. Held in London, June, 1888. 
Edited by the Rev. James Johnston, F. S. S., Secretary of the Con- 
ference. Two large 8vo. vols., 1200 pages, $2.00 net per set. 
An important feature in this report, lack of which has prejudiced many against reports 
in general, is the special care taken by the Editor, who has succeeded in making the work 
an interesting and accurate reproduction of the most important accumulation of facts from 
the Mission Fields of the World, as given by the representatives of all the Evangelical 
Societies of Christendom. 

And another: The exceptionally complete and helpful indexing of the entire work in 
such a thorough manner as to make it of the greatest value as a Reference Encyclopedia on 
mission topics for years to come. 

THE MISSIONARY YEAR BOOK FOR 1889-90. Containing 
. Historical and Statistical accounts of the Principle Protestant Missionary 
Societies in America, Great Britain and the Continent of Europe. 

The American edition, edited by Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., of Buffalo, embraces 
about 450 pages, one- fourth being devoted to the work of American Societies, and will 
contain Maps of India, China Japan, Burmah, and Siam ; also a language Map of India 
and comparative diagrams illustrating areas, population and progress of Mission work. 
This compilation will be the best presentation of the work of the American Societies in 
Pagan Lands that has yet been given to the public. The book is strongly recommended by 
Rev. Jas. Johnston, F.S.S., as a companion volume to the Report of the Century Con- 
ference on Missions. Cloth, 12mo. $1.25. 

GARENGANZE: or, Seven Years' Pioneer Missionary Work 
in Central Africa. By Fred. S. Arnot, with introduction by Rev. 
A. T. Pierson, D.D. Twenty Illustrations and an original Map. 

The author's two trips across Africa, entirely unarmed and unattended except by the 
local and constantly changing carriers, and in such marked contrast with many modern ad- 
venturers, strongly impress one to ask if another Livingstone has not appeared among us. 
Traversing where no, white man had ever been seen before anu meeting kings and chiefs 
accustomed only to absolute power, he demanded and received attention in the name of his 
God. Cloth 8vo, 290 pages, $1.25. 

IN THE FAR EAST : China Illustrated. Letters from Gerald- 
ine Guinness. Edited by her sister, with Introduction by Rev. A. J. 
Gordon, D. D. A characteristic Chinese cover. Cloth 4to, 138 pages, 

$1.00. 

CONTENTS. 



" Good-Bye ! " 

Second Class. 

On the Way to China. 

Hong-Kong and Shanghai. 

First days in the Flowery Land 

Opium Suicides amongst Women. 



Ten Days on a Chinese Canal. 
At Home in our Chinese " Haddon Hall." 
By Wheelbarrow ro Antong. 
Life on a Chinese Farm. 
A Visit to the " Shun " City. 
Blessing — and Need of Blessing — 
In the Far Eas'C. 
Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, writes : 

" I have greatly enjoyed ' In the Far East.' God blessing it, the book should send 
armies of believers to invade the Flowry Land." 

The author is to be congratulated fo, the taste and beauty with which these letters 
are now put into permanent form. A full page colored map of China enhances this ad- 
mirable gift book. 



NEW YORK: C|pmir><6H E>ei/Pll CHICAGO: 

12 Bible House, Astor PL Jf 1 *' 1111 1 /^ Ji. i^woii 748 & 750 Madison St. 



Missionary Publications 

{Continued.) 



A CENTURY OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS, and its Lesson. 

By the Rev. James Johnston, F.S.S., editor of "Report of the Mis- 
sionary Conference." Crown 8vo, 214 pages, cloth, $1.00. 

Dr. A. T. Pierson, in December number of "Missionary Review," mentions this as 
being one of the five most valuable books on the history of Mission work. 

Pastor Spurgeon says: "It is no common-place generalization, but real fact; and 
much of that fact was known to few of us. Buy the book." 

FOREIGN MISSIONS OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES. Their 
State and their Prospects. By Dr. J. Murray Mitchell, M. A. 
i6mo, cloth, 50 cents. 

This timely little work presents a wide general view of the field of Missions. Having 
shown what Missions have done, the author sets forth the state of the chief Pagan religions, 
the different modes of missionary action, and then, in an eminently practical way, discusses 
the actual situation, both as to the needs of the heathen and the mind and attitude of the 
Christian public. 

THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. By B. Bromhall, 
Secretary of the China Inland Mission. Large quarto, 242 pages, 10 
portraits and three maps. Bound in boards, net, $1.00. Bound in 
cloth, with handsome dies, net, $1.50. By mail, postage extra, 18 cts. 
" This is a most remarkable book. . . It is one of the most powerful appeals for 
Foreign Missions issued in our time, and altogether perhaps the best hand-book that exists 
for preachers and speakers in their behalf."— The Church Missionary Intelligencer. 

OUTLINE MISSIONARY SERIES. 

By Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., editor of the American edition of 
" The Missionary Year Book." 
INDIA. 212 pages, paper 50 cents; cloth $1.00. 

This volume contains an excellent colored Map of India, showing railroads and promi- 
nent mission stations ; also a map of Burmah and mission stations ; also a Map showing the 
distribution of Languages of India ; also diagrams illustrating populations and areas as 
compared with other countries. 

CHINA. 64 pages, price 15 cents. 

Rev. R„ G. Wilder, says : — " Your ' China ' is a gem. It must do great good." 

Rev. D. W. C Huntington^ D.D., says :— " I began to mark passages, but soon found 
lhat I should have to mark the whole book. It is all cream. The information is worth ten 
limes its cost. 

Miss Isabella Hart, of Baltimore, says: — " I could hardly have believed that so much 
could have been put, and put so expressively and strongly in so small a space. I can not 
express my appreciation of it." 

" In its general account of Chinese life and history, it condenses the substance of 
hundreds of pages into a few graphic and eloquent paragraphs." — The Gospel in all 
Lands, New York. 

OPEN DOORS. 64 pages, price 15 cents. 

Those who are interested in missionary topics, as all ought to be. will find this little 
pamphlet affords a great deal of valuable information as to Christian opportunity in Africa, 
Japan, Burmah, Mexico, South America, Korea, and the islands of the sea. Dr. Gracey is 
himself a former missionary, and is an authority upon the subjects upon which he writes. 
We strongly commend it to all. It shows with a clearness, almost startling, the present op- 
portunities for Christian work. 



NEWYORK: Cl^minrtH V>OMO\\ CHICAGO: 

12 Bible House, AstorPl. \ X<, \ X \ X 7 V P * X \° U ^ X X 148 & 150 Madison St. 



Works of D. L. Moody. 

By the strenuous cultivation of his gift Mr. Moody has attained to a clear and i» 
cisive style which preachers ought to study; and he has the merit, which many more cul 
rivated men lack, of saying nothing that does not tend to the enforcement of the particu- 
lar truth he is enunciating. He knows how to disencumber his text of all extraneoui 
matter, and exhibits his wisdom as a preacher hardly less by what he leaves ou: than by 
what he includes. Apart from its primary purpose each of these books has a distinct 
value as a lesson on homiletics to ministers and students. — The Christian Leader, 

Bible Characters. 

Prevailing Prayer; What Hinders It. Thirtieth Thousand 

To the Work ! To the Work ! A Trumpet Call. Thir- 
tieth Thousand. 
The Way to God and How to Find It, One Hundred 

and Fifth Thousand. 
Heaven; its Hope; its Inhabitants; its Happiness; its Riches; 

its Reward. One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Thousand. 
Secret Power; or the Secret of Success in Christian Life 

and Work. Seventy-Second Thousand. 
Twelve Select Sermons. One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth 

Thousand. 

The above are bouud in uniform style and price. Paper covers 30 cents: cloth, 
(X> cents. Also issued in cloth, beveled edge, and put up in neat box containing the 
seven volumes. Price of set, $4 20. 



Daniel, the Prophet. Tenth Thousand. Paper cover, 20c. 
cloth, 40c. 

The Full Assurance of Faith. Seventh Thousand. Some 

thoughts on Christian confidence. Paper cover, 15c; cloth, 25c. 

The Way and the Word. Sixty-Fifth Thousand. Com- 
prising "Regeneration," and "How to Study the Bible." Cloth, 25c; 
paper, 15 c. 

How to Study the Bible. Forty-Fifth Thousand. Cloth, 15c. 
paper, 10c. 

The Second Coming of Christ. Forty-Fifth Thousand. 
Paper, 10c. 

Inquiry Meetings. By Mr. Moody and Maj. Whittle. 
Paper, 15 c. 

Gospel Booklets. By D L. Moody. 12 separate sermons. 

Published in small square form, suitable for distribution, or inclosing in 
letters. 35 cents per dozen, $2.50 per hundred. May be had assorted or 
of any separate tract. 

Any of the above sent postpaid to any address on receipt of price. 

Special rates for distribution made known on application. 



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